Reduced grey matter volume in frontal and temporal areas in depression: contributions from voxel-based morphometry study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine whether and to what extent mood disorders, comprising major depression and bipolar disorder, are accompanied by structural changes in the brain as measured using voxel-based morphometry (VBM).

Methods: We performed a VBM study using a 3Т MRI system (GE Discovery 750w) in patients with mood disorders (n=50), namely, 39 with major depression and 11 with bipolar disorder compared to 42 age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls.

Results: Our results show that depression was associated with significant decreases in grey matter (GM) volume of the regions located within the medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortex on the left side and middle frontal gyrus, medial orbital gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus (triangular and orbital parts) and middle temporal gyrus (extending to the superior temporal gyrus) on the right side. When the patient group was separated into bipolar disorder and major depression, the reductions remained significant only for patients with major depressive disorder.

Conclusions: Using VBM the present study was able to replicate decreases in GM volume restricted to frontal and temporal regions in patients with mood disorders, mainly major depression, compared with healthy controls.

Keywords: bipolar disorder; grey matter volume; major depressive disorder; structural MRI; voxel-based morphometry.